Tuesday, April 29, 2008

AceMagnetics.com has been granted a patent on its RB30 which is clearly the lightest weight, highest strength, most durable, waterproof sports and leisure magnetic bracelet in the world.

Encinitas, CA (PRWEB) April 24, 2008 -- www.AceMagnetics.com ®, an internet e-commerce company providing magnetic bracelets and magnetic jewelry for sports and health enthusiasts has been awarded a new patent for its RB30 style Rally Band Magnetic Sports band.

Acemagnetics.com is the sole distributor of this new product now on sale at RB30 Rally band to be the lightest weight most powerful, waterproof sports and health band on the market bar none worldwide."

"We are delighted about the advantages of our unique Rally Band® wristband," says Jay Varon, President of AceMagnetics.com®. "The Rally band has no clasp so it slips on and off easily, it is more flexible than traditional metal wristbands, the silicone is completely waterproof and the silicone lets us embed and protect even more magnets. The Rally Band sports band® is the lightest weight most powerful (105, 00 total gauss) magnetic wristband on the market and is virtually indestructible and suitable for young and old alike. Additionally "we can make them in different colors so they are not only functional but incredibly stylish!"

AceMagnetics.com utilizes neodymium magnets in its entire product line. Neodymium magnets will retain 90% of their magnetic force for a hundred years. AceMagnetics.com products are used by a wide range of professional golfers and other professional athletes as well as everyday weekend warriors around the globe.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Go to GolfDash and check out the Headline Story for today, April 14. It's by John Huggan at Golf Observer and addresses the fact that course changes to Augusta in the last 10 years seem to have taken the excitement out of the Masters competition. I couldn't agree more after watching this last week and reflecting on 2007 as well.

It seems that we have come to love the Masters because of the dramatic play it inspires - or used to. Some lost big leads while others made dramatic moves ahead. Different players played the course well - differently. If you felt you needed to make up ground you could take risks, which sometimes paid off and sometimes ended in disaster. But today, it's all about survival. The course seems to dictate that everyone play the course in almost exactly the same way. Most holes don't have options anymore, which is what great courses are all about. If you follow the British Open and classic links design then you know what I'm talking about.

Bobby Jones worked with the famous Scottish golf designer Alister MacKenzie to build Augusta. Mr. MacKenzie knew all about the subtleties of a well designed hole. Winning a tournament was as much about strategy as ball striking. Given your skill set, a great hole is about challenging you to figure out the solution of how you should play it. There was one hole at St. Andrews Old Course that Bobby Jones himself said was most often played the best by a woman golfer of the times. Think about that for a moment, he was saying that she played the hole better than he did. I'm sure he could hit the ball farther, but she was able to unravel it's secret code better.

I have looked forward to this Masters all winter, but now that it's complete I have an empty feeling. That's no to slight Trevor Immelmam. He's a great golfer who played better than everyone else, including Mr. Woods. He's a wonderful ball striker and showed he has the nerves that all the great ones have. I think (and hope) to see a lot more of him in the future. We need someone to push Tiger. Without a Retief, or Ernie or Vijay to challenge, pro tournaments are losing some of their luster.

A high level of anticipation for the next Masters is certainly gone. I want to see dramatic shots, an Arnie charge or a Nicklaus come from behind. Just seeing who can endure the rack the longest is not much entertainment. For my money the course has been designed into it's own dead end. I'm not a course designer, but the Augusta people need to find someone with a different vision to save the tradition. They might want to consult a past winner who's also an architect and probably understands the old course design traditions better than anyone. That would be a Mr. Ben Crenshaw.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Today is probably the worst golf tournament coverage I have ever seen and because it's the Masters it's that much more painful. It's not the problem of the ESPN commentators, it's the producer. When you cover a golf tournament you are expected to broadcast the play, not shots of the trees, the bridge, magnolias, and so many walks down memory lane that I thought I was watching the history channel for awhile.

The trend in the last couple of years is to focus too much on only a very few golfers at the top. If a player is a few shots back you're lucky if you see then hit two shots. I do believe the average viewer is like me. I want to see Justin Leonard and Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington and the rest of the best golfers in the world whether they're on or not. I want to see as much as I can of the best golfers in the world on one of the best courses in one of the top four tournaments of the year. Not only is ESPN sticking to the leaders on the course and Tiger, but the producer has fallen in love with everything that has nothing to do with the live action.

It's getting to the point where you have to be online to actually know what's going on. If a top player like Retief Goosen isn't doing so well, why? Has he lost control of his driver, did he hit it in the water, did he take a double bogey somewhere? Why can't the networks let the camera show us the action and let it speak for itself. Why not get as much real footage on our screens as possible. I love Gary Player and I think it's great that Zach Johnson won last year. But don't take away from this year's actual play to take us back into the history books over and over. That's better handled later, or earlier, but not during the heat of play. By chopping up the coverage the viewer gets no sense of the overall unfolding of the competition.

The powers that be at Augusta have gone to extremes to have the Masters run and be covered the way they want. Maybe it's time for them to look at the Thursday/Friday contract with ESPN and let a network who will really cover the action take over next year.

Friday, April 04, 2008

An advertiser is an advertiser and most every popular media business needs them, who else is going to pay the bills. So don't blame the Golf Channel for the pain that the current Cialis and Slazenger ads cause. I've got nothing against either product, it's just certain characteristics of the ads - not the product mind you - that's making it more painful to sit through the ads with each passing day.

The production quality of the Cialis ad is fine, it's just that it NEVER CHANGES. If you've got enough advertising funds to buy up that much airtime, then spend a few more bucks on some different versions. I've had to watch that kitchen faucet erupt more than once too often. It's getting so you can't watch any sporting event without being bombarded by erectile dysfunction products. I guess that says something about where the male viewing public is at, so maybe we are buying enough pills to warrant the ads. But please, too much repetition can kill a good thing.

Take a page out of the Aflac book. Even if you've seen a lot of their ads, you look sort of look forward to them because they are funny and there are enough versions to keep from driving you stark raving mad. Lilly, please do us a favor and come up with a few more versions of the ad or you're going to give golf a bad name.

Then there is Slazenger's 'Raw Distance' ad. Who do they think buy the most golf balls? If it's 14 year old boys who play video games then they've probably hit a home run with their ad that you'd swear was for the World Wrestling Entertainment. If it's anybody else, then why would video of raw meat and blood in a blender and a guy who spends too much time in the weight room and not on the practice range make anyone want to purchase a golf ball. My advice, team up with Lilly and get a twofer deal with the advertising agency producing the Aflac and Geico ads. Your golf ball may be terrific, but who can get past your commercial.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Don't worry, no more of my 'golf instruction' ideas in this blog. I've run across a couple of things that are so interesting I just have to mention them. I've used one and hope to have a chance to try the other two shortly.

First, an idea about buying product online, saving money and getting no hassles service. I search the web for good deals and keep track of street prices for key items on the GolfDash website. As a result, when I was in the market for a new putter I knew who had the best deal. (I've found through experience that there are significant differences in online prices. It's not about one website always being better. Who has the best price at any given time on a particular product is up for grabs. You really have to compare the major sites.)

You who read this blog know I was hot for a MacGregor putter earlier in the year. However, when I tried the Rife 2Bar I fell in love immediately. BudgetGolf had the lowest price and free shipping so the choice was clear. Unfortunately, when I got the putter, it was the blade model instead of the mallet. When I checked my order I found out the mistake was my fault. When I called up to explain what happened, they couldn't have been nicer. I sent the putter back and they promptly sent me the new one - and - they didn't charge me shipping on the replacement. From now on, I'll be checking BudgetGolf first when I want to buy something online.

Second, I want to talk about SkyCaddie. Being an old fuddy-duddy I'd like it if there were no golf yardage indicators anywhere on a course and everyone had to play by the seat of their pants. I'm not so crazy that I don't realize how stupid this is. For better or worse, the world of golf is about knowing exactly how far away you are from where you want to hit the ball. The pros wouldn't score nearly as well without their faithful caddies giving them this information on every shot. So why shouldn't we amateurs have the same advantage. The new GPS systems make this all possible. From what I can see they've improved a lot so they are now quite accurate, work efficiently and can be used on any course. Even if your course hasn't been officially mapped (there are thousands nationwide), you can actually do it yourself quite easily. I checked the courses I play in Rhode Island and they have all been mapped.

If you play a lot of different courses like I do, think how convenient it is to have yardages to key points on every hole for a new course. It's almost impossible to play a good quality course for the first time without a course guide and now you can get all that and more in a GPS system. How about knowing how far you've hit every shot. Wouldn't it be nice to know what you really hit your 7 iron on the course. How about knowing how far you need to hit your second shot on a par 5 to your preferred lay-up yardage.

There's one feature about GPS tools that may actually most benefit the sport in general - speeding up play. Numerous tests have shown significantly reduced play times (30 minutes for 18 holes) for amateurs when using GPS. No more looking for sprinkler heads or even worse, walking off yardage. And why should amateurs have to guess if their approach shot is 60, 70 or 80 yards when the best players in the world demand to know it exactly.

I've looked at the GPS products out there and SkyCaddie seems to me to be the clear leader. No, I haven't received anything from them, so this is an unbiased opinion. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but if they operate as well as they are advertised I think I'll have to get one. When I've pushed one well into the rough, I'd love to know how far my carry is over the water to the front, back and middle of the green.

Lastly, there's Gyro Swing. If you watch the Golf Channel's 'Fore Inventors Only' you might have seem Larry Kelly introduce his idea for a golf club with a gyroscope in the head. After the show he teamed up with SKLZ to produce and sell the product. It was a tremendous hit with teaching pros at the PGA Show this year. You are better off watching a couple of videos to see how it works rather than have me try and explain it. Once you've seen it, I think it will make perfect sense as to why it works. Unfortunately the thing costs a little over $200, a bit steep for a training device in my book, but I sure wish I had access to one. Maybe the local pro or golf shop will get one. I think it holds tremendous potential because it forces you to 'feel' the correct plane of the swing and a proper lease of the club head. Many amateurs would progress much faster if they could just experience what a good swing feels like. I'm also encouraged because Rick Smith has gotten behind the product. Though I've never had lessons from him, I've always been greatly impressed with what I've seen of him on TV. He has tremendous knowledge and a true teacher's personality. He's really high on this thing and that's a solid endorsement as far as I'm concerned. If anyone of you get to try the Gyro Swing, please write and let me know what you think.